Jacobsville Neighborhood Lead
Contamination Superfund Site Newsletter
Hello and welcome
Welcome to the premiere edition of
Getting the Word on Lead Out. This
newsletter is published several times
per year and grew out of the cleanup
of the lead and arsenic contamination
in the greater Evansville, Indiana area.
The newsletter's intent is to keep the
more than 10,000 affected residents
up to date on how the lead and arsenic
cleanup is progressing. Officially known
as the Jacobsville Neighborhood Soil
Contamination site, the cleanup site is
named for the neighborhood where the
contaminated soil was first found.
Over the course of the extended
cleanup we will keep you up to date
on cleanup progress and bring you
information about lead issues, health
concerns, who to contact and more. As
always U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), the Indiana Department
of Environmental Management,
Vanderburgh County, Vanderburgh
County Health Department, the city
of Evansville and other governmental
agencies can provide assistance,
information and resources to work with
the community on the cleanup. We will
feature articles on health issues, blood
lead testing, meetings, health fairs and
other aspects of the cleanup. This first
newsletter concentrates on the history
and background of the site.
Getting the lead out.
one yard at a time.
Volume 1 | May 2011
Following a successful first year of cleanup at the Jacobsville Neighborhood Soil
Contamination site in Evansville, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
is making plans for the next phase of the project. The next part of the project is
called Operable Unit 2 - Phase 1 (OU2-Phase 1 or OU2-1). Last July a thousand
letters were sent to residents included in the cleanup's next phase seeking written
permission to test their soil for lead and arsenic contamination. More than
650 responses granting access for testing were returned. Test results above 400 parts
lead per million parts soil (parts per million abbreviated ppm) are considered
unsafe. The safety threshold for arsenic contamination is 30 ppm. Properties
exceeding those levels will be placed on the cleanup list once the EPA has obtained
funding and a contractor for this portion of the project.
The second part of the cleanup, OU2 — Phase 1, is the area inside the circle shown
on the map on Page 3- Another map on Page 4 illustrates the entire area needing
testing and possible cleanup throughout the multi-year project. This second map
also shows the boundaries of OU1 that contains the 263 parcels cleaned up last year.
The 2010 portion of the project was funded with stimulus money from the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. This money was given to Superfund
cleanup projects around the country that were "shovel-ready" for work to be done.
The Jacobsville project qualified. Funding for 2011 and beyond will have to come
from the EPA's regular Superfund program budget. Before work can begin for each
part of the OU2 cleanup, EPA will need to secure funding for the project, prepare a
work plan, put the work out for bid, and select a contractor.
Hand digging front yard
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12010 cleanup scorecard
Work on OU1 properties began in April 2010 with a kickoff
ceremony at the corner of Garfield and Michigan Streets. This is
the site of a future housing project for Indiana military veterans
that was made possible by the efforts of the ECHO Housing Corp.
in Evansville. It is anticipated that the 26-unit apartment building
will be completed in 2012.
The EPA cleanup work ended in late September 2010 with a
ceremony at the same corner lot to mark the successful cleanup
of 263 properties in OU1. Some of the impressive statistics from
OU1 are:
ARRAfunding received
Phase One yards cleaned
Locally hired workers on the job -
best week
Local workers hired
Man-hours lost to heat or injury
Contaminated soil removed
Truckloads (6.5 tons each) to landfill
Clean backfill used
From local supplier Kip Staub LLC
Sod placed in yards
$5 million
263
19 of 25
43
0
15,236 tons
2,418
12,223 cubic yards
468,492 square feet
52,000 square yards from Local Sod Farm Grass Masters
Plants/shrubs replaced
Combs Nursery, a local supplier
Water used for watering sod
Temperature swings
Mar/Apr/Sept
Jul/Aug norm temp/heat index
Person hours expended
50+
1.6 million gallons
low 40s
110/120 degrees F
31,911
Joining in the closing ceremony last fall were (from left to right) EPA assistant
administrator Craig Hooks, Stephanie TenBarge, director of ECHO Housing Corp.,
Evansville, Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel, Rev. JoeEasley, Central United Methodist
Church, and Rick Karl, director of the Chicago EPA Superfund Division.
Tight spaces require specialized equipment.
New piles of sod for yards already cleaned up.
A completed yard with clean soil and sod.
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Jacobsville Lead Cleany
-^. .x
Boundary
O OU2-Phase 1,
targeted for 2011/2012
CHOU2-Phase 1, parcels
requiring sampling
ill! Evansville Neighborhoods
ill! Evansville Neighborhoods
within OU2 Boundary
Note:
1. Parcels in yellow are residential and
are high-access properties
2. The properties already cleaned in
OU1 are not shown
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V
Getting the
word out
\- EPA has been working
diligently with the
Evansville Courier and Press, local radio
and television stations, and community
groups to reach out to residents with
news and updates about the cleanup.
Last year's outreach to the community
included numerous stories in the
Courier and Press, stories on television
channels 7, 14 and 25, as well as five
radio stations. Via several interviews
with EPA, public radio station WNIN
also helped with publicizing the
cleanup. EPA believes working with
local media outlets are an essential part
of any cleanup effort.
Additionally, EPA participated in
Earth Day activities with the Mesker
Park Zoo and Deaconess Hospital.
EPA also reached out to neighborhood
groups such as the Jacobsville Area
Community Corporation (JACC).
Outreach efforts did not stop there.
The Vanderburgh County Health
Department worked closely with EPA
by answering questions and relaying
information at public meetings at the
Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library.
Involvement with these groups will
continue during the course of the
multi-year cleanup.
USI students
join the fun
r
^^ Students from two classes
at the University of
Southern Indiana (USI) got a chance
to put their coursework to excellent
use as well in 2010. One class, led by
Professor Anne Statham, worked on
a semester project about community
education. When EPA held public
meetings, students from Dr. Statham's
class held focus groups before and after
the meetings. The students also worked
on various graphics and a pamphlet
Excavated yard.
A crew works on a yard using both hand and power equipment during the 2010 work.
about the Jacobsville cleanup project.
A variation of their work is shown in
the graphic design at the top of the
first page of this newsletter. The class
also prepared several public service
announcements to alert the community
to lead hazards.
A second USI class under Journalism
Instructor Erin Gibson interviewed EPA
staff, residents and contractors and then
wrote stories on the cleanup. This class
also prepared a video about the project.
i EPA seeks
to expand
Evansville
presence
EPA now has several
ways that Evansville residents can
contact the Agency. Besides a website
— epa.gov/region5/sites/Jacobsville —
EPA also has a toll-free number for
people to call and leave messages. That
number is 855-838-1304. Residents can
also subscribe to the EPA ListServe to
receive notices about upcoming events
or other site information via email. To
add yourself to this list, send an email
to subscribe-jacobsville@lists.epa.gov.
EPA also mails out fact sheets,
postcards, and letters and places ads
in the Courier and Press to get word
on the cleanup out to the community.
The newsletter you are reading right
now was mailed to all 10,000 residents
within the entire area of the multi-
year OU2 project. This is the first
publication of the newsletter, which
EPA plans to send out two to three
times a year to keep everyone in
the community up-to-date. Future
editions of this newsletter will also
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feature health-related articles and
other information about the cleanup,
comments from the community, local
officials and community leaders. We
may also include question-and-answer
columns or frequently asked questions
about the cleanup and other activities
EPA will be doing in the community.
In both 2010 as well as this year, EPA
joined with the Mesker Park Zoo and
Deaconess Hospital to celebrate Earth
Day and Earth Week. In addition to
spending a day at the zoo, EPA staff
also used four days this year at the
various Deaconess Hospital locations to
celebrate the environment.
EPA and the community involvement
coordinator (CIC) for the Jacobsville
project, Dave Novak, often look
for additional ways to contact and
be contacted by the community.
Dave, by the way, is responsible for
all the information outreach for the
Jacobsville project.
Assisting Dave on an outreach and
educational program to engage
elementary school children and other
groups in environmental projects is
Megan Gavin, EPA's environmental
education coordinator. They are
meeting with schools, hospitals and
other organizations to see how EPA can
support educational programs about
environmental issues in the Evansville
community while the Jacobsville lead
cleanup project is ongoing.
• Cleanup work
in 201 land 2012
EPA will be cleaning up
22 additional homes from
the original OU1 area this year. An
additional 44 parcels in OU1 have
not yet been sampled by EPA due to
the lack of a signed access agreement.
In some cases, EPA has not yet been
able to locate the owners, and in
An excavated space between two homes leading to an excavated backyard.
Jacobsville Neighborhood /^
Lead Contamination
Superfund Site \f ^^? .
Operable Unit One (OUT Vi
Getting the lead out
Craig Hooks EPA Assistant Administrator Speaks at ceremony for completion of OU1
All about lead
Lead is a naturally occurring heavy metal but was also deposited on soil through
vehicle exhaust when leaded gasoline was used and by industrial activity. Lead can be
found in the air, water, food and dust in cities because of the widespread use of lead in
manufactured products and heavy traffic volumes. The federal government regulates the
amount of lead in the air, water and soil. Lead is highly toxic and can cause a range of
health effects, from behavioral problems and learning disabilities to seizures and death.
Children 6 years old and younger and unborn children are most at risk because their
bodies are growing. Children often have higher levels of exposure because they play in
dirt and may put dirty hands in their mouths. Also, children who lack proper nutrition may
absorb more lead and suffer more harmful effects. To learn more about lead, visit
www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts13.html.
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other cases, the property owner has
opted to not allow EPA to sample
their property. EPA will continue its
efforts on obtaining access so that these
properties can be eventually cleaned up,
if necessary.
Federal budgetary issues delayed the
funding of some cleanup projects
this year. And this, coupled with the
absence of stimulus money, will likely
push back the start of work on OU2
- Phase 1 until 2012. EPA will strive
to make the best possible use of any
available funding so that OU2 — Phase
1 can be started as soon as possible.
The Agency will also announce a
public meeting and let you know via
this newsletter when work will begin
on OU2 — Phase 1, and when the
remainder of the work in OU1 will be
completed.
aimed at training residents so they
are qualified to apply for jobs in the
environmental cleanup field, with the
potential for some of the trainees to
work on the Jacobsville project. The
training is staged by EPA and lasts two
to three weeks. Announcements will
be made in the community on how to
apply if the training takes place. Last
year the EPA subcontractor offered its
own version of the training and hired
43 workers for the Jacobsville project
and other environmental cleanups
around the country.
• Community
input is
welcome
An opportunity
for local hires
EPA is also working on
hosting a Superfund job
training initiative in Evansville. This
would likely happen at the end of
2011 or in 2012. The initiative is
EPA also invites your input on how
things appear to be going with the
project. EPA welcomes hearing about
what you liked about the work being
done in your neighborhood as well as
what annoyed you. Dave and Mary
want to hear from you. Send comments
to Dave directly as outlined to the
right. We promise to use both the good
and the not-so-good comments in
future newsletters.
Contacts at the EPA
EPA staff working on the Jacobsville
site are
Dave Novak
Community Involvement Coordinator
312-886-7478, or
toll-free 800-621-8431, Ext. 67478,
8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., weekdays
77 W.Jackson Blvd. (SI-7J)
Chicago, IL 60604
email: novak.dave@epa.gov
Mary Tierney
EPA Project Manager
312-886-4785, or
toll free at 800-621 -8431, Ext. 64785,
8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., weekdays
77 W.Jackson Blvd. (SR-6J)
Chicago, IL 60604
email: tierney.mary@epa.gov
For more information:
Toll free number:
855-838-1304 and leave a message
Join the site's Listserve and receive
occasional short information. Send a
blank email to:
subscribe-jacobsville@lists.epa.gov
On the Internet:
http://epa.gov/region5/cleanup/
Jacobsville/
To view site records:
Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library,
Central Branch-Public Comment Shelf,
200 S.E. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.,
Evansville, Indiana
Workers working on various neighborhood yards during the 2010 construction season.
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rxEPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Region 5
Superfund Division (SI-7J)
77 W. Jackson Blvd.
Chicago, IL 60604-3590
FIRST CLASS
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INSIDE Getting The Word on Lead Out
Getting the lead out...
Getting the Lead out is published several times annually by EPA Region 5
Community Involvement Section. Its purpose is to provide up-to-date and
useful information about cleanup and restoration efforts on the Jacobsville
Lead Contamination site, Evansville, Ind. Call Dave Novak at 312-886-7478 or
855-838-1304, Ext. 31325, 8:30 a.m.- 4:30 p.m., to request a free subscription
or alternative format. Feedback on articles and ideas for future issues is
welcome. Send comments to Dave Novak, EPA Office of Superfund (SI-7J),
77 W. Jackson Blvd., Chicago, IL 60604 or e-mail novak.dave@epa.gov.
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